iOS: While iOS does a decent job of managing podcasts, updating either requires syncing or a manual download. AudioPress attempts to eliminate that problem (and more) by creating an auto-updating audio digest out of all your favorite content—free.
The video above is a pretty good explanation of what AudioPress can do, but here's the gist: it's an app that downloads and manages a variety of spoken word content so you don't have to worry about syncing your phone or manually downloading new stuff every single time you want an update. While it does manage podcasts, it manages internet radio stations as well. What's also pretty neat is that it provides audio articles (articles read aloud so you can listen to them when reading isn't an option) and personalized audio updates. More on this later. Let's take a look at a few screenshots.
You have a couple of options when getting started with Audio Press. When you first get started it asks you to select a few categories that interest you. If you do this, it'll add popular content from each of those categories into your digest. You can skip this step to add content manually.
Once you have your content configured, you can start making playlists. If you had AudioPress set everything up for you, you'll have "My Favorite Shows" already in there. If you want to create separate playlists for different kinds of content, however, you can do that here. You should also do that before you start adding content because you need to add individual pieces of content to a playlist from the content page. You can't add items to a playlist from the playlist page by selecting existing subscriptions. This isn't so bad when you're just getting started, but if you wanted to move a podcast to another playlist you have to do that from the podcast's content page. It's a little annoying and not exactly how you might expect playlist editing to work, but if you know this is how it needs to happen it's not that big of a deal.
If you know what you want, the easiest way to add content is by searching for it. A more general search (like "comedy") will also turn up relevant results of all content types. You'll see album artwork with little icons overlaid in the bottom right corner indicating what kind of content it is.
When you find what you're looking for you'll be able to subscribe or add the content (depending on the type) or play it directly.
You can also find content through the catalog, which is separated by the four different content types. This is a pretty standard browsing experience through a directory of podcasts, streams, and more.
Currently there are no audio articles yet available, but they're on the way. MyUpdates only has one personalized update so far: U.S. weather. It'll provide you with a daily weather forecast for your area from the National Weather Service.
AudioPress is a pretty neat application for managing all your spoken word content. It's pretty good as an internet radio station and podcast manager, but should become a pretty well-rounded app as more personalized updates and audio article content becomes available. From general use there were a few quirky bugs here and there, but nothing major or unexpected from an app's first release. It's definitely worth a look if you're looking for a better way to handle spoken word content on your iOS device.
AudioPress is available right now in the iTunes App Store for free (ad-supported).
AudioPress [iTunes App Store]